UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
BOOKSTACKS 


P' 

S-. 

fe:' 

itfv 

W^\ 


T' 

E^v'..--;- 

• ' V.  - ' 

«^y^E.;.vv^  • • 


r . . - .. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/foundersorderofkOOfoun 


[No.  2.] 


poundeps’  Opdet< 

OF  THE 

/ 

I^nights  of  liabot*. 


It  bekng  a basic  principle  of  our  Order  that  labor  is  a blessing  necessary  to 
the  physical,  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  unfoldment  of  the  human  race ; 
that  all  wealth  which  forms  the  substratum  on  which  alone  this  unfoldment 
can  be  built  and  perpetuated  is  the  product  of  said  labor,  and,  as  a consequence 
of  right  and  necessity,  not  only  belongs  to  labor,  but  must  be  so  placed  as  to 
answer  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  produced,  therefore  it  becomes  necessary  to 
so  organize  the  world’s  industries,  productive  and  distributive,  as  to  place  this 
wealth  in  the  possession  of  the  producers  thereof,  the  accomplishment  of  which 
necessitates  a return  to  first  principles,  among  which  are:  The  recognition  of 
economic  science  in  both  production  and  distribution,  the  utilization  of  labor, 
the  elimination  of  all  surplus  middle  men  and  institutions  with  a view  to  pro- 
ducing the  greatest  possible  amount  of  wealth  at  the  least  cost  in  the  shortest 
time  to  the  end  that  the  object  of  labor  as  abowe  set  forth  may  be  accomplished. 

To  bring  this  about  we  earnestly  call  on  labor  everywhere  to  organize  under 
the  banner  of  the 

Founders’  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor, 

in  which  is  found  the  broadest  and  best  plan  for  uniting  labor  in  such  shape  as 
to  make  the  above  programme  universally  practicable  ever  yet  formulated 
upon  the  earth.  In  proof  of  which  we  hereby  set  forth : 

That  the  foundation  of  the  Order  is  based  upon  a recognition  of  the  rights 
of  mankind.  It  is  fundamentally  democratic.  Every  aristocratic  feature  in 
other  orders  has  been  left  out.  Industry,  Intelligence,  Independence  and 
Integrity  are  its  corner-stones,  recognized  as  the  true  titles  for  position  and 
advancement.  It  is  organized  on  the  principle  of  local  self-government,  in 
strict  accord  with  the  representative  principle  set  forth  in  the  American  Eevo- 
lution,  viz.:  “ That  the  representative  should  act  as  the  people  he  represents 
would  act  if  they  were  present  in  his  place.”^ 


9 


Jt  '-ecognizes  the  right  and  necessity  of  each  trade  or  calling  being  organized 
by  itself  for  the  exclusive  management  of  all  business  which  belongs  to  thaf 
trade  or  calling,  the  autonomy  of  each  being  fully  secured.  It  is  only  whei 
united  interests  call  for  united  action  that  this  principle  is  departed  from,  and 
then  only  on  the  voluntary  basis  with  the  full  consent  after  due  time  and 
deliberation  of  the  parties  to  the  union,  thus  securing  all  the  powers  and 
liberties  that  local,  district,  national  or  international  bodies  of  workers  may 
recjuire. 

Further:  The  founders  see  that  to  secure  the  above  objects  the  principle  of 
the  union  of  the  world’s  workers  must  be  extended  to  the  controlling  and  dis- 
tributing of  the  labor  product,  and  that  this  involves  the  co  operation,  on  a 
well-defined  scientific,  yet  simple,  basis,  of  all  trades  in  regulating  industry, 
independent  of  any  management  of  exclusive  trade  affairs.  On  this  line  only 
can  labor  secure  its  fruits. 

The  Founders’  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  is  the  only  labor  organization 
which  supplies  the  industrial  machinery  or  union  of  labor  by  means  of  wliich 
this  can  be  accomplished,  either  locally,  nationally  or  internationally. 

Political  economy  points  to  the  regulation  of  distributive  industry  as  the 
first  problem  to  be  solved.  It  is  the  taking,  by  the  present  system,  of  labor 
fruit  out  of  the  possession  of  labor,  and  laying  tribute  upon  it  that  is  the  cause 
of  poverty.  What  is  called  overproduction — the  stoppage  of  industry.  The 
army  of  idlers  is  the  effect ; the  remedy  is  the  exchanging  of  labor  product 
for  labor  product  on  the  part  of  organized  labor  on  the  co-operative  basis.  In 
working  out  this  remedy  for  poverty  we  should  have  less  opposition  and  more 
support  as  an  organization  from  those  whose  capital  is  now  employed  in  pro- 
ductive industry,  and  war,  as  it  now  exists  between  capitalists,  employers  and 
laborers,  would  soon  be  a thing  of  the  past. 

Under  the  shield  of  this  Order,  holding  these  principles  inviolable  and  these 
obj  ects  in  view,  all  good  men  and  women  can  work  in  harmony  for  the  general 
good  to  the  extinction  of  poverty  and  the  unfoldment  of  all  that  is  highest 
and  best  in  the  human  race. 

But  while  setting  forth  this  view  of  the  labor  question,  satisfied  of  its  cor- 
rectness as  a theory,  and  ready  to  loyally  unite  with  all  men  in  putting  it  into 
practice,  we,  as  workers,  are  driven  by  stern  realities  to  first  look  at  things  as 
they  are,  as  we  find,  to  our  great  cost,  that  industry,  as  now  carried  on,  is  based 
upon  antagonism  and  fraud;  that  hunlan  rights  are  utterly  disregarded  by  the 
capitalistic  classes  and  their  supporters;  that  hrute  force  is  their  law  and  the 
starvation  of  laborers  their  favorite  weapon.  The  freebooters  and  the  pirates 
have  left  tffeir  old  methods  of  plunder  so  full  of  danger  and  hardship,  and 
have  entered  with  all  their  old  spirit  with  full  force  and  legal  sanction  into 
our  industries,  and  in  the  spirit  of  greediness  intensified  by  their  native  cruelty 
are  raising  barriers  between  mankind,  destroying  the  sentiment  of  brotherhood 
which  should  exist  in  a republic,  and  putting  in  its  place  the  spirit  of  a fierce, 
heartless  aristocracy  of  wealth,  the  most  deadly  to  republican  life. 


3 


Industrial  war  is  ever  present  on  every  hand,  and  in  all  the  centres  of  u ade 
our  material  welfare  is  the  sport  of  vile  gamblers.  American  laborers,  while 
contending  with  ignorant  hords  used  by  capitalists  to  degrade  and  enslave 
them,  have  to  struggle  in  secret  and  sink  their  independence  to  secure  their 
children’s  bread.  Capital,  the  product  or  creature,  commands,  while  labor,  its 
producer  or  creator,  has  to  beg  for  justice  and  be  content  with  a denial  of  it. 

S.uch  being  the  case,  the  laborers  are  not  only  justified,  but  forced,  in  self- 
defence,  to  meet  these  elements  of  war  that  confront  them.  So  long  as  capi- 
talists conspire  and  work  for  the  destruction  of  democratic  equality,  laborers 
must  combine  and  work  for  its  preservation.  So  long  as  capitalists  resort  to 
the  lock-out  and  black-list^  we  must  resort  to  the  strike  and  the  boycott.  So  long 
as  capitalists  press  down  the  standard  of  living,  laborers  must  fight  to  keep  it 
up  to  a fair  living  basis.  There  rnust  be  a minimum  wage  below  which  no 
man  or  woman  will  be  called  upon  to  work.  An  income  for  the  laborer  justi- 
fied by  our  means  of  production,  regulated  by  due  economy  in  the  management 
of  business,  is  the  standard  we  must  contend  for.  To  procure  the  knowledge 
necessary  to  arrange  this  standard  is  the  work  of  the  Statisticians  of  our  Order, 
and  all  attempts  to  reduce  that  standard  to  a level  with  labor  of  countries  less 
favored  by  nature  and  lacking  our  forces  of  production,  must  meet  with  the 
determined,  persistent  opposition  of  united  labor.  Anything  short  of  this  is 
inconsistent  with  true  manhood. 

The  accomplishment  of  this  involves  measures  of  finance.  Each  Assembly 
mast  prepare  itself  to  bear  its  share  of  the  cost  of  the  conflict.  The  disposi- 
tion to  depend  upon  others  to  furnish  the  needed  support  must  give  way  to  the 
wiser,  more  manly,  reliant  determination  to  be  self-sustaining.  Each  Assembly 
should  aim  to  raise  a fund  under  its  own  control  sufficient  to  support  its  own 
members  in  case  of  strikes  or  lock-outs.  The  plan  of  engaging  in  a conflict 
with  capitalists  with  an  empty  treasury  is  the  straight  road  to  defeat,  and  is  a 
standing  invitation  to  capitalists  to  bring  on  the  conflict.  While  on  the  con- 
trary, when  employers  know  that  laborers  are  well  supplied  with  the  sinews 
of  war  they  will  look  upon  a lock-out  as  a thing  of  last  resort. 

Industrial  establishments  cannot  remain  idle,  as  a rule,  many  months  without 
sustaining  ruinous  losses,  while  the  employees  can  experience  great  physical 
and  mental  benefit  from  a period  of  vacation,  providing  they  have  living  sup- 
port. The  power  to  win  is  in  the  hands  of  the  laborers  if  they  live  up  to  the 
motto : “ In  peace  prepare  for  war.” 

There  is  another  question  of  great  importance  that,  in  our  judgment,  deserves 
serious  consideration.  It  is  vitally  necessary  that  we  utilize  every  means  to 
secure  the  full  sympathy  of  labor  by  providing,  as  far  as  possible,  for  its  every 
interest  and  protection.  It  has  been  wisely  said  that  man  is  governed  by  his 
interests.  Within  the  last  fifty  years  vast  associations  in  great  variety  have 
been  built  up  and  sustained  mainly  by  workingmen  which  look  to  relief  in 
sickness  and  the  burial  of  the  dead.  Others,  at  an  enormoia^xpense  to  labor, 
are  based  on  the  principle  of  life  insurance.  So  extensive  are  the  institutions 


4 


of  this  character  that  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  as  to  the  desire  of  the  ' 
masses  to  have  these  wants  gratified.  In  our  Order  this  can  be  done  at  less  ' 
expense  and  with  better  superintendence  than  elsewhere.  In  some  of  the  most 
successful  and  stable  labor  unions  this  principle  has  been  worked  out  with  grand 
results.  It  has  been  found  that  when  a member  is  entitled  to  pay  when  sick 
or  out  of  work,  his  family  to  benefits  in  case  of  death,  and  that  he  is  not  over- 
looked and  left  to  perish  in  old  age,  that  he  will  be  a better  member  of  society 
than  when  he  has  not  these  inducements  to  support  his  organization. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  formulate  any  plan,  but  simply  to  call  attention  to 
the  question  on  the  part  of  Assemblies,  leaving  each  Assembly  free  to  apply 
the  principle  as  they,  in  their  judgment,  may  decide  to  be  for  their  best 
interests,  in  the  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  laboring  millions 
will  find  the  most  perfect  beneficial  plan  yet  devised,  giving  greater  benefits 
with  lighter  burdens  in  full  operation  within  the  “ Founders*  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor.** 


